The Experience of a Lifetime

By: Taylor Fortunato

Workcamp 2010 In the summer between sophomore and

junior year, my parents thought it would be a good idea to attend workcamp through my church. Initially I was extremely resistant to going and was dreading it with each coming day. By the end of the week I didn’t want to leave. I had made so many friends and had genuinely enjoyed helping people in need. Over the course of a week, we helped fix up a person’s house who did not have the physical nor the financial ability to do it themselves. The experience left me feeling accomplished and so proud of the good I had done.

Finished ProductThe first year my crew and I painted our resident Larry’s

house and porch. This is me and my crew with Larry standing in front of the finished product. The house was originally a

very dark shade of green so it took a lot of paint and primer to get the job done.

Workcamp 2011 The following year I left for workcamp again. This

year I was anxiously anticipating the fun week I would have making friends and doing community service. Again I had a wonderful resident and fabulous crew for the week. This time we painted the inside and outside of the house, as well as calked the entire outside of the house. The residents we served during our time there were so inspiring and optimistic. They had been through so many hard times and welcomed our help with open arms. I was able to take my inspirational experiences from both of my years at camp and incorporate them into several essays as well. If given the chance, I would definitely do it all over again.

Work in ProgressThis is the side of the house we were working on the second year I went. We had to replace most of the house with new

sheets of wood and then paint them so it was a pretty extensive project.

Final Goodbyes

On the last day of camp, a photographer comes

around to all the crews and takes professional pictures

of everyone. I am so thankful for this as it really captures and helps me to reminisce about my time there. I really love helping

people and performing community service,

especially through this experience. I can’t wait to

perform more service projects in the future.